"I don't have words to express my feelings. Full credit to Indian army which supported his training and the discipline that he inculcated is because of the defence background.

He has made the country proud and also put Himachal Pradesh's name in the sporting history," Subedar Kumar told mediapersons after his son clinched silver in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.

The senior Kumar said that the feeling is yet to sink in that his son achieved the ultimate glory in sport.

"We are a very average middle-class family and who would have believed that my son would win an Olympic medal. In army, practising shooting is common but he grew interest in pistol shooting. When he first won a gold medal at the National Championship back in 2003, I knew that he had the firepower in him."

The father informed that Vijay had called him up before the final round and sounded confident about bringing back a medal.

"I just told him "Zor lagana" and he said that he would come back with a medal."